Self-harming teens may not be mentally ill

Could it be that cutting or other forms of self-harm have been glamorized to the point that kids try it out because it’s cool and not because they are depressed? A new study suggests just that. Teens self harm for entirely different reasons than psychiatric patients and many times once is enough. The behavior never develops into a pattern.

We must know the difference between adolescent behavior and mental illness

“It is important that school and health professionals know how to deal with young people who self-harm. They need to react appropriately and not judge all young people alike. For many of these young people, the behavior seems to be fairly mild and often of a temporary nature. It may be viewed as a matter of experimentation or problems that are not of a serious nature,” said Jonas Bjarehed of Lund University of Sweden.

A limited number self-harm and a smaller number do it more than once

Bjarehed and his team surveyed 1000 teens from Sweden. One in four said they had purposely hurt themselves, but only a very small number said they did it regularly.

Worrisome behavior, but it may just be an experimental phase

“Nowadays, we are grappling with the fact that many signs of stress and mental illness appear to be increasing in our society, especially among young people, without us really understanding why The fact that many young people suffer mental health problems during a time in their lives when they are in the process of becoming adults and developing the skills they need to contribute to society has become a serious public health problem An important challenge is to understand this trend and the signs of mental illness that we are seeing in young people, in order to be able to take the necessary measures to prevent it or provide help,” explained Bjarehed.

Source: MedicalNewsToday, Lund University